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CHAPMAN: The Day We Left the Gold Standard
by Bob Chapman
Posted: November 22 2007


It all started in 1971, the fiat currency we have now, the state of the reign of George II, stagnation instead of change on Wall Street, denial of problems and poor quality information will lead to more of the same in the future, but only worse

We have often reported that since 8/15/71 it has been all down hill for the American economy. That is the date we left the Gold Standard. Since then there has been a decline in the purchasing power of the dollar. A decline that has forced a need for two incomes to replace the one income that was needed in 1970. What has been in process during the last 37 years is the disappearance of our middle-class and the limited ability to reach middle-class status. Our fiat currency has brought us decline and will eventually bring us impoverishment.

Our low and moderate-income earners have been virtually shut out from upward income and social mobility. Those with high school educations or less are confronted with stiff competition from illegal aliens who are promoted by our President and part of Congress. Their wages and purchasing power has been decimated and business and corporate profits have exploded. It’s nothing less than a form of corporate enslavement. Those who go to university and put themselves into debt find those good paying jobs under free trade and globalization have been offshored or outsourced to some distant land. During the reign of George II the availability of decent jobs has fallen dramatically as corporate earnings hit new records. We might also add that the rich never paid so little in taxes. Making matters worse 85% of new jobs available do not offer health care or pensions. People cannot make ends meet and will have to work until they cannot anymore. This is not a pretty picture, but it is a realistic one.

Employers do not even have to offer a livable wage. There are plenty of illegal aliens or people in China, India or Mexico who will do the job for less. Labor unions are almost extinct and workers overall have little bargaining power. We often see college graduates earning $32,000 to $50,000 a year. As we look back 1945 to 1971, were the golden years of employment and upward mobility. Hard work, brains and education are no longer a ticket to a better life. This is why we promote an end of illegal immigration and a reintroduction of protective tariffs, because without them we cannot survive economically, financially and culturally. Above all in addition we badly need a major political upheaval. Most Republicans and Democrats in national office are either bought off by campaign contributions or are compromised. We need a third party to break what is essentially a one-party monopoly.


Banking and Wall Street like things the way they are – they do not want change – because it cuts into corporate profits. They want low interest rates, a cheap dollar, unlimited immigration and few regulations. They do not care if living standards improve for the masses. All they care about is how much money they can accumulate.

The right man for our time, now, is Ron Paul. He can take the average American where we all want to go and that is to prosperity and freedom. In the process in our primaries we have to defeat every incumbent so we can get the refuse out of Congress.

Since 1971 the Fed and Wall Street have brought us one calamity after another. The most recent were the stock market collapse early in this decade, and now the real estate collapse, both of which we were fortunate enough to have predicted. The Fed created both bubbles in collusion with government intervention, real estate, mortgage lending and the investment banking industry, including the rating agencies. This was one of the greatest scams of all time just to keep the economy from collapsing. The result is a monumental real estate collapse, a plunging dollar and an ongoing credit crisis. In addition, we have a collapse of complex structured assets. This is accompanied by collusion of government with Wall Street, banking and the Fed to bail out their friends and to again allow the American public to pay the bill. They even want a public bailout if they can get away with it. It wasn’t but several generations ago that bankers had unlimited liability and before the “Great Depression,” bank shareholders did as well. Due to changes banks entered the casino business. They now could care less about asset quality or liquidity. If they get in trouble they just go to the Fed, which manufactures credit and get bailed out. Banks now play fast and lose and reap great profits and when they fail they get bailed out. As we have just seen again like in the 1920s and 1930s, universal banks should never have been allowed to be recreated by the destruction of the Glass Steagall Act. If you reach back 13 years you will find the National Partners in Home Ownership, was formed to increase creative financing methods for mortgage origination. As a result you saw what happened over the last five years. The totally unqualified were given mortgage loans by the millions. There were no regulations and no controls. Now look at the result. A disaster that will take America into depression. The Fed, the originators, the lenders and the investment banks should all he under indictment. That won’t happen; too many of them are Illuminists. Next the bond insurers will go under – all they have to do is raise more capital, which rating services gave them the time to do, with all the bailouts, lots of companies will fail over the next year and that will expedite the recession.

It was bad enough that bankers made the poorest loans possible but worse was that the change in lenders’ standards caused contagion and lack of trust and confidence throughout the system. The ultimate results of such a loss of faith is a reduction in the availability of credit, irrespective of how much is made available by the Fed. Then as soon as the Fed loses control, deflation begins. The Fed will attempt to prolong that day as long as possible. This is already borne out in part by banks tightening credit for all borrowers. You will see this episode played out over the next few years.

Over half of Americans are living in a state of denial. They want to believe tripe on the nightly news, and the pronouncements by Treasury Secretary Paulson that the real estate collapse and the credit crisis are contained. The still low interest rates have allowed Americans to continue to function albeit buried in debt. They are terrified about falling house prices and the fear that their credit card lines will be cut back. They are concerned that we may be in recession and that their job may be outsourced overseas. They say nothing, they watch and hope. They are fearful of our government and our system. They are afraid to speak out.

Some are beginning to realize that the Fed forced trillions of dollars into the financial system so that the economy wouldn’t collapse five years ago. The result was a housing bubble that kept the economy from collapse and the elitists away from exposure of what they were doing.

We are headed toward another great depression and Americans are occupied with sports, movies and DVD’s, as well as totally managed news.

http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/item.php?topicId=2&articleid=212